By Indranil Halder
On 4th of December, 2023, I walk up the grand staircase of the Grand Hotel, Kolkata, India to attend to a welcome reception at the ballroom celebrating Australian cinematic excellence at the 29th Kolkata International Film Festival.
Invitation Read:
His Excellency Philip Green, Australian High Commissioner to India invites you to a welcome reception celebrating Australian cinematic excellence. Join us for an evening of fine Australian cuisine and wine as we begin the celebration of Australian films at the 29th Kolkata International Film Festival.
Reception Party:
His Excellency Philip Green, Australian High Commissioner to India welcomed everyone with gala dinner of both Aussie and Bengali dishes and wine. He ensured that the welcome reception celebrated Australian cinematic excellence and Indian film heritage too. The grand ballroom with oil paintings of Indian women in their royal decorum, unlimited flow of poached prawn and raw mango tarts and champagne with the smell of amazing tuberose decorations made my evening enjoyable.
The reception was attended by Indian film director Srijit Mukerjee, actress and film producer Rituparna Senguptaand actor Saswata Chatterjee amongst others from the Bengali film industry. Niloy Kanti Biswas from Wackytoon Studio Pvt Ltd talked about his 200 staff Kolkata based company making global animation movies using technology and digital platforms. In Sydney, we are proud of similar company Animal Logic animation studio and its film animation pioneer Zareh Nalbandian.
Mitu Bhowmik Laga from the Melbourne Film Festival also joined in with the Oscar award winning Australian director Bruce Beresford ( who directed Driving Miss Daisy) and his wife. I noticed a great interaction between Bengali movie stars and Australian director to start the ball rolling for filmy future between two nations. There were talks of collaborations and making more Australian films like Lion in India.
Australian Presence:
29th Kolkata International Film Festival was hosted by the Information and Cultural Affairs Department, Government of West Bengal in India with 219 films from 39 countries participating over seven days. Australia and Spain were the countries of focus. The Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Film went to Children of Nobody by Erez Tadmor and Golden Royal Bengal Tiger Award for Best Director went to Carlos Malave for One Way.
I received one of a kind invitation from Srijit Mukerji to the grand opening of the 29th Kolkata International Film Festival which was star studded with Anil Kapoor, Sonakshi and Shatrughan Sinha, Salman Khan and Mahesh Bhatt to name a few and strong crowd of fifty thousand attendees.
Also, attended by the Australian consulate Rowan Ainsworth ( Kolkata), Mitu Bhowmik Lange and Bruce Beresford. At the event, I was delighted to meet film actor and public relations consultant Rana Basu Thakur with actor Alexandra Taylor and other young television and film talents and talk about Chris Hemsworth Netflix movie Extraction where utters a Bengali words ,”proman dao”.
As the festival continued, Australian films like the Breaker Morant( 1980) was screened. The festival also had a retrospective of Bruce Beresford, showcasing six of his films. I also attended Bruce Beresford’s robust interaction with local media houses. He welcomed everyone to watch Australian films. It was his first time at the festival and loved the enthusiasm of the local people to see both Indian and overseas made films.
A very special Kolkata highlight for Australian films was the use of a local tram which travelled to different corners of the city to promote Australian horror movies. Such Australian engagements only raised hopes and understanding of Australian films for Indian audiences. It was impressive for everyone to learn Satyajit Ray retrospective was part of recent Sydney Film Festival. A kind of mental satisfaction for me to know that Australians from various backgrounds have a chance to witness and learn about Indian subjects cultures instead of monotonous Hollywood film culture. I also, learned that Mind Blowing Films will be introducing more and more Bengali and other Indian films in Australia. Moving forward, I am confident that such filmy engagements will have a significant impact on the IndoAustralia bilateral relationship, cultural diversity and business cooperation